Ninth Circuit

In a case that appears to one of first impression at the federal appellate level, the Ninth Circuit ruled in Cumbie v. Woody Woo, Inc., that there are no tip-pooling claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for restaurant employees who are paid more than the minimum wage before tips. FLSA, the federal wage and hour law, regulates how tips can be distributed and/or shared as part of its regulation of the minimum wage. As restaurants commonly do, servers can be paid a small base amount and make the rest of their wages in…

In Boucher v. Shaw, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that individual managers/owners — in this case a hotel’s CEO, CFO, and labor/employment manager — may be held liable for unpaid wages, vacation, and holiday pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The FLSA allows suits to be brought against individuals, in addition to the employer-company itself, in certain cases. Specifically, individuals can be on the hook if they “exercise control over the nature and structure of the employment relationship,” such as the managers here. Significantly, the court also held that even…